There are thousands of news stories to choose from. Here are three important ones:
Political consequences – There are growing calls for political consequences for Mr. Trump. From resignation to invoking the 25th Amendment to impeachment, more lawmakers are speaking out.
GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski was the first Republican Senator to call on Trump to resign. GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday that “the best thing for the country” is for President Trump to resign and the “next best thing is the 25th Amendment.” Republican Senator Pat Toomey said he believes Trump has committed impeachable offenses and should resign and could face criminal liability for his actions and Senator Ben Sasse said he would consider impeachment.
Some Utah Republicans are speaking up as well. Rep. Tim Hawkes called Trump the “Inflamer-in-Chief” and former Governor Jon Huntsman tweeted that “Our light has been dimmed by repeated reckless behavior encouraged by our President, who has shown time and again that he cares more about his own ego and interests than in building trust in our ever-fragile institutions of democracy.”
Utah Auditor John Dougall told me that “the Republicans in Congress have a duty to the U.S. Constitution. They are falling for the cowardly argument that impeachment is too divisive. Disappointing and disturbing that they would put tribe over party.” On Facebook, he wrote “My duty is to defend the U.S. Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, not to defend any specific individual. Trump is seditious and treasonous. He needs to resign or be officially removed from office. Let there be no doubt of my opinion.”
Calling for unity right now, rather than accountability feels like gaslighting. Yes, we need healing, yes, we need civility in the public square. But. Actions have consequences. Words matter. Taking responsibility instead of placing blame must also happen. We don’t negotiate with terrorists.
Rescuing electoral ballot boxes – You may have seen the picture of the young women carrying the ceremonial boxes containing the official electoral ballots. What you may not have seen is the story behind what happened. That picture was actually taken before the Capitol was breached, as Senate aides carried boxes into the House chamber for counting. As insurgents pushed their way into the Capitol, unidentified floor staff grabbed them, preventing the mob from taking them. Even though the picture is not of the actual moment of rescue, the fact remains that quick-thinking staff prevented the likely destruction of the ballots.
Rep. Andy Kim cleans Capitol on his hands and knees – Representative Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey did not see for himself the destruction in the Capitol until midnight. When he got to the rotunda, he was stunned. “I was just overwhelmed with emotion,” Kim, 38, told NBC Asian America. “It’s a room that I love so much — it’s the heart of the Capitol, literally the heart of this country. It pained me so much to see it in this kind of condition.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and Iraq, I’ve been in war zones where I’ve had to shelter in place, but I never would have imagined that this would happen here,” he said, noting that he didn’t know at the time whether the rioters were armed. “It was a terrifying experience.”
After seeing the rotunda floor, he spent the next hour and a half on his hands and knees, filling trash bags in the rotunda, then moved on to cleaning Statuary Hall and the Capitol Crypt.
He followed that up by returning to the House floor for the debate on whether Pennsylvania’s electoral votes should be counted, a process that lasted until 3 am. By Thursday evening, he had been up for 36 hours. (NBC News, The Hill, CNN)
